Mike Novogratz’s crypto investment bank Galaxy Digital is expanding its services to offer crypto options contracts trading, industry media outlet The Block reports on June 21.
According to the report, Galaxy Digital’s new initiative is made in response to increasing demand from institutional investors in order to hedge the high volatility that is a calling card of crypto assets.
Bitcoin (BTC) options are a type of crypto derivative that are a wide-spread method of profiting from a highly volatile market by strategically hedging risks such as reducing portfolio risks, and in turn, losses from trading. Similar to traditional finance, there are two types of crypto options that can be bought — call options and put options. Respectively, these translate to right to purchase and right to sell the holding at the determined price.
Yoshi Nakamura, global head of business development at Galaxy Digital, reportedly claimed that crypto-related businesses such as mining firms and lenders have been expressing more interest to crypto options recently. However, the executive declined to reveal specific numbers about growth of the business, adding that Galaxy’s crypto options business is “relatively new.”
According to an executive from crypto investment firm BlockTower Capital, the demand for crypto options has been increasing indeed, which is primarily driven by non-crypto firms.
According to the report, Galaxy is not the only firm in offering crypto options, with the service being reportedly supported by over-the-counter (OTC) trading operators such as Akuna Capital and Cumberland, the Chicago-based cryptocurrency trading unit of DRW Holdings LLC.
As reported earlier today, high volatility is the biggest reason people give up on cryptocurrencies, accounting for 31% of answers from those polled as to why they stopped using crypto.
Meanwhile, BTC futures, which is another type of crypto derivatives, have briefly broken $10,000 mark today on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME).